Sunday, October 14, 2012

I've admitted that this blog has had its share of lemon tarts and bars, so I won't even mention the massive amount of lemon cakes, right? :D
Lemon cakes are my favorite cakes, and I pretty much always have lemons around, therefore it's an easy choice for me. This time, however, I've more than satisfied my constant cravings for sour flavors by topping a lemon cake with a passion fruit syrup: sour². :D

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 23cm (9in) round cake pan, line the bottom with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Cake: in the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat to combine. Mix in the sour cream, lemon zest and juice, flour, baking powder and salt. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until golden and risen and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 5 minutes** before removing to a rack over a plate.
Syrup: combine all the ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over a low heat, stirring, until all the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat and boil for 4-5 minutes or until it thickened and syrupy. Pour over the cake. Cool before slicing.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

** the cake was too tender, so I cooled it in the pan for 15 minutes before unmolding it

SOOOOO glad to see someone else still dreaming (and in your case posting) about citrus! I've got plans for next weekend, and it involves two grapefruit. I'll keep you posted! Thanks for another lovely citrus recipe (I mean, can you really have too many? ;-)